>short and sour

They did . . . but needn't have bothered: Hollywood's shortest marriages

>Britney Spears famously married childhood friend Jason Alexander in a Las Vegas ceremony in 2004, but had the union annulled just 55 hours later at the behest of her parents.

>Carmen Electra married basketball star Dennis Rodman in 1998, but the marriage lasted a paltry nine days before arguments drove them apart.

>Jennifer Lopez may be staring down the prospect of her third divorce, but back in 2001, she married back-up dancer Cris Judd. Four months later, and despite Jen admitting that Cris 'brought serenity to her world', the two were heading for the divorce courts, citing irreconcilable differences.

>Bradley Cooper married actress Jennifer Esposito in December 2006, but their marriage foundered after four months.

According to his publicist, the two had actually "been separated for quite a while" before the four-month mark.

>Lisa Marie Presley married Nic Cage, who openly admitted his obsession with Lisa Marie's father Elvis.

Only 107 days later, the marriage was on the ropes.

"I'm sad about this but we shouldn't have been married in the first place. It was a big mistake," she said at the time.

>Short-lived marriages aren't just a side-effect of the breakneck pace of modern life: in 1919, Rudolph 'Latin Lover' Valentino married starlet Jean Acker.

She quickly regretted the decision and locked him out of their honeymoon suite.

After knocking on the bridal-suite door for 20 minutes, the Latin Lover headed home. They were married for six hours.